How Corruption Is Strangling U.S. Innovation – James Allworth – Harvard Business Review

Netflix. Uber. Airbnb. Tesla. Fisker. Most economies would kill to have a set of innovators such as these. And yet at every turn, these companies are running headlong into regulation (or lack thereof) that seems designed to benefit incumbents like NADA and Comcast — regulation that, for some strange reason, policy makers seem extremely reticent to change if it results in upsetting incumbents. Daniel Sperling, a professor at the University of California Davis, and director of its Institute of Transportation Studies summed it up when speaking to the New York Times about Uber: “Transportation has been one of the least innovative sectors in our society. When I look at these new mobility companies coming, where they’re using information and communication technology, at a very high level it’s long overdue and should be embraced with open arms.”

And yet, that’s not what’s happening at all. If anything, it’s the opposite.